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Spot the beast 16

The rain offers numerous blogging opportunities on the “spot the beast department”! Here is another one for you to find (Only look at the next picture below if you cannot find it!)

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It was difficult but it was spot on in the center of the picture! It had a sad expression also!

It is the flap-necked chameleon (Chamaeleo dilepis) the most common sub-Saharan chameleon.

Of least concern according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, I have the impression that their numbers are declining, at least in urban Harare. Some attributed this to the proliferation of security electric fences that, apparently, can kill them.

The flap-necked chameleon lays 10-40 eggs in a hole dug in soil. The latter take an amazing 10–12 months to hatch! A very long time if we compare it with other animals such as the Nile crocodile that takes 90 days! To watch the hatching of the perfectly formed and miniature young is simply amazing.

Luckily, this rainy season we have found a few so the situation may not be as bad or the frequent electricity cuts had yielded some benefits!